Mobile Device Shipments to Nearly Double By 2014

Shipments of mobile, wireless devices, including smartphones, netbooks, consumer electronics and cellular modems, are expected to nearly double by 2014, according to ABI Research. With growth, however, will come increased competition and a need for stronger use cases.

Mobile device shipments are expected to nearly double by the end of
2014, according to a Dec. 21 report from ABI Research. Such growth,
however, will increase competition and lead to a need for devices to
better set themselves apart, said the firm.

"The next five years will see a shift in the breakdown between types of
mobile devices shipped," said Michael Morgan, an analyst with ABI, in a
statement.

"Today, wireless handsets rule the roost, with other mobile devices
accounting for only 40 million shipments and cellular modems only 60
million," Morgan continued. "While handset shipments did actually
decrease between 2008 and 2009 due to the global recession, the other
two segments in fact grew very aggressively."

The new categories will additionally create new competition for
smartphones, said Morgan, as consumers make purchasing choices.
Consequently, handset vendors will need to make low-cost and
ultra-low-cost models a larger part of their businesses, while MID and
netbook makers will need to better define their use cases and value
propositions.

"The convergence period for cellular communications is coming to an
end, and now we're entering a period of divergence. For many devices
the technology is already in place, it's just the business and billing
models that need to be built," said Morgan.

Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.